The fight between Bayelsa and Rivers States over the ownership of Soku oil wells has flared up again, pitting the governors against each other.
The two sister states have been at each other’s throat since 2011, when the Soku oil fields in Akuku-Toru Local Government Area were ceded to Bayelsa, an action that Rivers State challenged in court and got the government revenue distribution agency to revert payment of revenue from the wells to it.
That decision has not gone down well with the Bayelsa government, forcing governor Douye Diri to fault the payment of the revenue from the Oil Well to Rivers, despite the state’s appeal against the judgment that ceded the wells to Rivers.
Diri told members of the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) who visited him recently in Yenagoa, the state capital, to stop paying to Rivers the revenue from oil wells, and give it to Bayelsa instead.
He pointed out that the action by the commission was tantamount to ceding a part of Bayelsa to Rivers, “which can breach the peace between both sister states.”
Nyesom Wike, Rivers governor, faulted the call by Diri.
“It is unfortunate that the Bayelsa State Governor told you when you visited him that you should not pay us revenue from Soku Oil Well.
“The matter was at the Supreme Court when the National Boundary Commission admitted that they made an error in their 11th edition publication by situating Soku Oil Well in Bayelsa State.
“They were, therefore, directed to correct the error in their 12th edition publication. When they also failed to correct it, we had to go back to the Federal High Court.
“The court, in its wisdom, directed that all revenue accruing from Soku Oil Well should be paid to Rivers State. That is the position.
Wike argued that if Bayelsa had filed a matter at the Supreme Court, it was not an injunction to stop the implementation of the subsisting judgement.
